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Codex Borgia

Replica
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Codex Borgia Replica

Many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica were literate societies and kept records. The Codex Borgia is a Mesoamerican ritual and divinatory manuscript. It is generally believed to have been written before the Spanish conquest of Mexico, somewhere within what is now today southern or western Puebla area. This codex is made of animal skins folded into 39 sheets. Each sheet is a square 11x11 inches (27cm by 27cm), for a total length of nearly 35 feet (11 meters). All but the end sheets are painted on both sides, providing 76 pages. The codex is read from right to left.

The Codex Borgia was brought to Europe some time in the early Spanish Colonial period and is presently housed in the Apostolic Library at the Vatican.
Mesoamerican codex
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